Coroner not told of Letby concerns, inquiry hears

Lucy Letby was arrested over the baby deaths in 2018

A coroner said hospital bosses never told him of suspicions that a member of staff may be responsible for a number of baby deaths, an inquiry into the crimes of Lucy Letby has heard.

Consultant paediatricians raised concerns about nurse Letby to senior managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital in late June 2016 following the deaths of two triplet boys on successive days.

The hospital opted to commission a series of medical reviews into the increased number of deaths on the neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016 rather than call the police.

A number of the baby deaths had already been referred to the coroner's office by late June 2016, the Thirlwall Inquiry was told.

Bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital were obligated to tell the then-coroner of their concerns about Letby, an inquiry has heard.

Giving evidence, Alan Moore, then-assistant coroner for Cheshire, said he received a phone call in early July 2016 from the hospital's director for corporate and legal services, Stephen Cross.

He said Mr Cross told him the hospital had commissioned an independent review from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) following a number of neonatal deaths.

Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC said: "We know that a driving factor behind the RCPCH review was the fact that the consultants raised concerns at a number of meetings that they had suspicions that a nurse may be responsible for some or all of the deaths.

"Was that information communicated to you by Mr Cross?"

Mr Moore said: "No."

He said those concerns were also not mentioned either to himself or then-senior coroner for Cheshire Nicholas Rheinberg in February 2017 when they met Mr Cross and the hospital's medical director Ian Harvey.

Mr Moore said: "Mr Rheinberg is a very experienced, diligent and thorough coroner and I have no doubt he would have contacted the police probably before Mr Harvey and Mr Cross had left the room."

The Thirlwall inquiry is set to continue sitting at Liverpool Town Hall until early 2025

Hospital 'required to disclose'

Mr Moore, who replaced Mr Rheinberg as senior coroner in March 2017 and retired himself in June 2022, added: "The provision of timely, accurate and truthful information is fundamental to the coronial process.

"If the Countess of Chester had become aware of any information which had not already been disclosed to the coroner's office that would impact upon a death, the Countess of Chester would have been required to disclose that information immediately.

"The Countess of Chester would have been expected to notify the police immediately if it had any reason to suspect that a person or persons may have been criminally responsible for causing a death.

"The coronial process is a judicial process. It demands complete candour from healthcare professionals, clinicians, nurses and from hospital staff and also from trust management.

"A failure to disclose to the coroner any information which may have a material bearing on a coronial case, whether it's been through the coronial process already or is pending, is to mislead the coroner and to mislead the court."

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.

The inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.